If you are willing to look at your failure as an opportunity to grow, you may be surprised to find career failure as an entrepreneur can actually be a good thing.

Did you know that only 20% of new businesses make it past their first year? Or of that 20 %, only half make it to their fifth year of business?

That is a pretty bleak future if you are considering becoming an entrepreneur. Knowing your business is likely to fail may leave you wondering whether you should consider becoming an entrepreneur or resigning yourself to a job working for someone else.

If you are like a growing number of individuals, giving up on your entrepreneurial dream is not even an option, regardless of the potential for career failure. You know you are likely to encounter failure as an entrepreneur, but you press onward in the hopes you will be one of the lucky entrepreneurs to buck to the statistical trend. Unfortunately, hoping you do not encounter failure is not likely to work. Chances are good you will face failure as an entrepreneur, often in the early part of your career. If you want help to learn how to overcome career failure as an entrepreneur, then bear the following six tips in mind.

Invest in Self-Improvement

One of the smartest moves you can make as an entrepreneur is to invest in self-improvement. From reading books penned by successful entrepreneurs to investing in meditation classes, anything you do to make yourself a stronger, healthier, more determined person will be reflected directly in your success as an entrepreneur.

Learn How to Provide Value to Customers

Entrepreneurs who learn how to provide value to their customers can often build successful businesses even after a substantial career failure. Too many entrepreneurs focus on attracting investor attention or worrying about adding bells and whistles to their product, instead of focusing the majority of their efforts on providing true value to their target customers. Mr. Vinod Ramchandra Jadhav, Chairman of Sava Group, states, “Try to solve customer’s needs and problems with completely new and different ways. It’s essential to be innovative.” When you provide substantial value to your customers, they will reward you with brand loyalty.

Invest in New Experiences

If you want to make yourself a well-rounded entrepreneur, consider investing in new experiences. Allow yourself to explore activities and classes to acquire new knowledge and add more layers to your character. You will be amazed at what a difference it can make to your entrepreneurial career when you open yourself up to new experiences and opportunities to grow.

Investigate Your Failures

Do not just accept failures as part of the entrepreneurial lifestyle. If you investigate your failures, you can learn valuable lessons you can apply to the rest of your career. Understand your missteps that led to your failure, things you could have done differently, and the lessons you learned from your failure that now make you a smarter entrepreneur. Mr. Vinod Ramchandra Jadhav suggests giving back to the entrepreneurial community: “Consider turning your life lessons into blog posts so you can provide guidance to other entrepreneurs.”

Cleanse Your Mindset

Once you have learned from your mistakes as an entrepreneur, cleanse your mindset of your failures. If you hang onto your past problems, they can drag you down and influence your future level of success. Learn from your past, but also learn to let it go. You want to succeed in spite of your failures, not become a byproduct of your failures.

Invest in Networking to Build Stronger Business Relationships

Too many entrepreneurs shun the spotlight or go into a reclusive self-imposed hibernation mode after failure. This is the worst thing you can do if you want to bounce back from an entrepreneurial failure. Understand the missteps that led to your failure, but don’t let those missteps stop you from creating a brighter future. Invest in networking to build stronger relationships with other entrepreneurs, business leaders, and potential investors. The more effort you put into building your entrepreneurial network, the likelier it is you will create a formidable career for yourself.

Learning to overcome career failure as an entrepreneur will not happen overnight, and it will not come easy. You will need time to reflect upon your failure and understand your own role in your fall from grace. If you are willing to look at your failure as an opportunity to grow and to share your life lessons with other entrepreneurs, you may be surprised to find career failure as an entrepreneur can actually be a good thing.

I am a freelance journalist, serial entrepreneur, and consultant. For the last 20 years, I’ve covered business stories for national and international online and print publications, with a special interest in entrepreneurs and their startups.

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